Regis St. Mary Catholic School theater department was one of 50 schools nationwide to be awarded a $10,000 grant through NBC’s R.I.S.E. America.

R.I.S.E. (Recognizing and Inspiring Student Expression) America, officially announced the award winners on Monday, March 5. The 50 awardees were selected from among 1,000 applicants. Regis, of Stayton, was the only Oregon school to receive a grant.

“We open our musical on Thursday, so I brought the cast in and told them,” Boedigheimer said. “We didn’t make a big deal of it before because we didn’t think we would get it.”

To apply, the school’s advanced theater students – seniors Jacob May, Sam Flickinger and Cheyenne Cox, and sophomore Alicen Ditter – put together a two-minute video sharing why theater is important to the school and some of the obstacles it faces.

Among those obstacles at Regis is severely limited storage space; a non-weather controlled shed that lacks a foundation.

“Recently we had to throw away a bunch of stuff because it got moldy,” Boedigheimer shared. “So that’s our first priority, to have an actual weather-controlled space out there so the kids can build our sets.”

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The cast rehearses for "Shrek the Musical" at Regis Catholic High School in Stayton on Wednesday, March 1, 2017. The show runs March 9-11, with 7 p.m. performances each night and a 1 p.m. performance on March 11. Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for students.(Photo: ANNA REED / Statesman Journal)

An essay and a letter from Principal Rick Schindler were also part of the application.

Regis St. Mary has an enrollment of 220 preschool-12 students with 116 on the Regis campus. Boedigheimer said around 50 of those students are involved in theater production on and off the stage.

NBC is facilitating the program in partnership with the Education Theatre Foundation (ETF), a non-profit organization dedicated to shaping lives through theatre education. The program was inspired by the network’s upcoming drama “Rise” about a high school theater department and its effects on a small town.

"It is a dream come true for me that 'Rise' will have a genuine impact on 50 high school drama programs throughout the country,” said Jason Katims, the show’s creator and executive producer. “It has never been clearer that the future of our country rests on the shoulders of the next generation of young leaders.

"I am excited about the notion that the R.I.S.E. America grants will help support, inspire and nurture creative young minds throughout the country, especially at a time when arts in education is under-valued and under-funded.”

To qualify for the grant, high schools were required to have an existing theater program or a champion of theater arts in their teaching staff in cases where a school’s theater program was cut because of budget constraints.

“Seeing the need school-by-school was both inspiring and a wake-up call,” said Julie Cohen Theobald, President of the Educational Theatre Foundation. “The way these dedicated educators are impacting kids’ lives, against the odds and without the necessary resources, is heroic.

"Every school was deserving, and their stories reinforce the need to continue this momentum until every school in America has a well-funded theatre program.”

The cast rehearses for "Shrek the Musical" at Regis Catholic High School in Stayton on Wednesday, March 1, 2017. The show runs March 9-11, with 7 p.m. performances each night and a 1 p.m. performance on March 11. Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for students.(Photo: ANNA REED / Statesman Journal)